The Hunger Games: iPod Shuffle Drabbles
by thiswayfortruth
Summary: Short bursts of writing based on songs from my iPod randomly selected using shuffle. Varying characters and themes, from humour all the way to dark and psychological. This is my first fanfic, please enjoy and leave reviews, and if you want, suggest songs for me to write about!
1. Chapter 1

_**The Hunger Games: iPod Shuffle Drabbles**_

_**Saturdays – Chevelle**_

_**Haymitch Abernathy**_

They play in the Meadow.

_God I feel old._

I look at the children of the two tributes who changed everything. How they frolic in a place the Capitol tried to keep us from. How ignorant they are of the past. Maybe I'm just jealous. Perhaps I envy their freedom. They don't have any baggage. The terrible guilt that follows all the death and destruction a Games victor unleashes.

How perfectly ironic that the Hunger Games, an event solely intended to pit children against each other in bloody combat should have spawned these children. So innocent. I see the sparkle in the little girl's eyes. She has her mother's fire.

In a way I feel shortchanged. These kids have never had to suffer a life under the choking constraints of the Capitol. In an even more prominent sense I feel lost among them. With Katniss and Peeta I feel at least some kinship; we shared the horror of the Capitol's Games.

_Well, we must relate somehow._

And that's the clincher: we can't relate. It just makes me sadder for the generations that lived through the Games. We suffered. And I look at these kids and think, we all should belong, in the better days of our youth. At the end of the day, we all have lost, so we shouldn't feel so alien amongst one another.

After all; one day, it might be those who never lived under the Capitol that outnumber us.

_**Like You Better Dead – In Flames**_

_**Katniss Everdeen**_

I take one look at my cottage in Victor's Village, and I know somewhere deep inside of me that my house is not my home. Not anymore. It seems so curiously out of place in the ashen remains of District 12. It's curious that they left it standing. Was it a reminder from Snow? That it was my fault that so many helpless denizens of my home district perished in the Capitol's flames of retribution? I'm feeling weak at the knees now.

_Come on. Gale got out who he could._

I say this to myself and I feel a pang of hatred for Gale. At the hands of his idea, Prim died, and what little was left of my sanity died with her.

_And you bury yourself up in District 2. Self-acquitted. You're dead to me, and you know what? __**I like you better dead.**_

I know I'm better off alone. I always have been. I'll spite Snow's control of my life and the losses of the rebellion by carrying on. I can be as angry as I want to be.

Regaining my composure and balance, I trudge my way through the ashes to my house.

Once indoors, I know it's a façade. I can't maintain this anymore. I break down there and then, crying and releasing silent screams, gasping for air when I can. I know I need to save myself before I drown, but it's too much for me.

In my head; I wonder. _Destiny, will you cure me? _Will there ever be an end to the pain? _Trust, will you age with me?_ Will I ever be able to hold trust again?

I take a spare glance around my hallway, knowing one thing: I'll never sleep here anymore. And the worst is, all those who surround me and try to care for what's left of me will ever hear is me screaming as I face tomorrow.

_**All About Her – New Found Glory**_

_**Peeta Mellark**_

_Another lonely night._

I shift uncomfortably beside Katniss' sleeping form. Even though I'm right next to her, I feel distant. I just wish she knew I cared about her so much, but a fat lot of good I'm doing injured and under her care.

I close my eyes and remember her singing a lullaby that silenced even the mockingjays.

_And one that captured my heart._

I don't think she appreciates the depth of my affection. Understandably, circumstance tore her away from Gale, but there was nothing between them, right? I think it to sooth my worries, but I really know there's at least something. You don't go through what they've went through without developing a bond.

This thought gives me pause.

_What if I'm just showing a lack of character? If that's the case, then it's up to me to follow through._

I barely suppress a laugh at myself.

_Look at me! I'm all over her, all about her! I'm the very definition of a hopeless romantic._

I guess it must be the things she does.

_**I Made It – Dead By April**_

_**Katniss Everdeen**_

I'm pregnant. For real this time.

Now, they say, begins the rest of my life. What's left of it, that is. Peeta finally convinced me it was safe. No more Hunger Games, no more Capitol. No more haunting threats from Snow.

Gone are the flames, tears and pain.

_I made it._

I'll admit it, some days I felt I could barely get through. But with the help, the love of the boy with the bread, I made it. I am actually here, alive, a semblance of what I once was.

_You didn't have the grip over me you thought you did, Snow._

And at long last, here is my life. My dream.

I clutch Peeta closer to me as we sit by the fireside, wintering out District 12's harsher conditions.

_And through it all, I'm glad, proud even, to say I never stood too far from you. _

"We're parents now. Real or not real?" I say, in allusion to his hijacking. I see his warm smile spread across his face.

"Real, Katniss. So very, very real," he says, patting my stomach. "We made it."

_**A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think, and it would be appreciated if you could suggest more songs to write about.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_****__**A/N: Sorry for the small update, but I hope you're enjoying these! With this installment, I'm delving a little further away from the major characters. As always, reviews and suggestions are welcome! :D**_

_**Hunger Games iPod Drabbles Ch. 2**_

_**Lights Out – Breaking Benjamin**_

_**Seneca Crane**_

I can't afford to care for these tributes; they are here to die for our entertainment.

_But they're still human._

After they small flicker of a life is extinguished, the lights go out on them. No one in the Capitol will care for them.

_Such a fickle audience I have._

In fairness, some are not worth saving, and more still are such a pretty mess. But there are some who did not deserve their fate. That girl from 11. I remember how she screamed. But I can't afford to care for her.

There are others left, however, still worthy of the gift of their life. One in particular. One fascinating specimen. One I am undecided on. One who has thus far and undoubtedly will continue to provide the most entertainment. It's a tossup between the audience's baying cries for blood, and the tortured cries of my humanity. What's left of it.

I know I can't afford to care, but I can't bear playing executioner for much longer.

_Girl on fire, I will make sure the lights never go out on you._

_**Kick Ass – Egypt Central**_

_**Clove**_

Now is the moment that I've trained for, and I know I can't be broken. Not now. I won't be defeated, and that'll settle the score. I'll win, without a doubt.

I look around the Cornucopia at the other tributes, and a wicked smile plants itself firmly on my face.

_I'll kill you all._

The countdown begins. I can already feel the blood pumping furiously around my body. I'm aching for this bloodbath to start.

"_3…"_

I poise myself, ready to move.

"_2…"_

The wicked smile becomes a furious grin

"_1…"_

I take a breath.

"_Go…"_

_Here I come. I'm ready to kick ass._

_**Collapse – Saosin**_

_**President Paylor**_

I take the steps up to the podium, and brace myself for the inevitable barrage of questions.

I'm not sure if they trust me yet; which is only fair, considering Snow's tyrannical reign will be all too fresh in their minds.

The Capitol citizens suffered and invasion from us only a year or so ago. To them, we're just as bad as Snow.

But we are better. So much better than the true Dark Days of Panem. The years of the Hunger Games. But we won't collapse.

I shake myself out of my dreamlike reverie to face off against the first of my questioners.

"So tell me, President Paylor, is it right to feel like we're only treading water?"

Fair game. That's not so bad. But nonetheless, a point for discussion.

"Well, we've made a few mistakes. But, then again it's not worth it to say, really. Because we will get up, and we are aware – because we've been through it. But we are not the only ones, and we will carry each other forward for Panem. And for our children."

That last point made them flinch. Reminding them of their Hunger Games. Shock tactics. It's strange how military theory can be applied in a political context. But not all that surprising - it is like a battle sometimes.

But I'm here. To mediate. To listen. To make sure all we fought and lost so dearly for doesn't collapse.


	3. Chapter 3

_****__**A/N: Sorry for the big delay! I've been a bit sidetracked recently and I've had a hell of a time trying to write the first of these. Please review and tell me what you think, I'd really appreciate it. As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!**_

_**Hunger Games iPod Drabbles Ch.3**_

_**Skin and Atmosphere – 36 Crazyfists**_

_**Peeta Mellark**_

I stare at the calendar on the wall blankly. I feel so helpless – so _inable _to save Katniss from her inner demons. I know have to keep trying, though. For both our sakes.

_Just like she did with me, when I was hijacked._

A familiar pang of guilt rises to the fore at that thought. When will I ever stop owing her for what she's done?

I sigh half-heartedly, and get up, and glide over the floorboards aimlessly for a few minutes, remembering holding Katniss in the Games, keeping her safe.

_It was so much easier back when you were here. In both senses of the word._ _But you're not here, not at all. And I know it'll surely break me._

_**Had Enough – Breaking Benjamin**_

_**Katniss Everdeen**_

I sit in my familiar hiding place in District 13, all alone. I need to clear my head, get thinking positive and, more importantly, get thinking straight.

_Well, the rebellion can't lose their precious showpiece, oh no._

To me, the rebellion seem no better than the Capitol. Why should I trust those who only want to use me.

I shake my head vigorously, reminding myself that I'm spouting Snow's rhetoric.

_I won't let you control me. I won't let you control me._

The thought of him burns in my mind. I wish that he would just appear right now so I can flay the bastard alive. The rage is boiling by now. I need to release. I tremble under the weight of the emotion as I look around my bleak surroundings.

_I need some peace of mind, no fear of what's behind._

And suddenly, I release. I vent. Screaming like a banshee, I set around the boxes in the room, picturing Snow's contorted smile on each of them.

"**You had to have it all! Every last thing, didn't you? You greedy little bastard, have you had enough? You'll get what you deserve!"**

Shrapnel from my rage flies around me.

_I'll be the one. I'll stand there, raise the sword and finish him._

I giggle incoherently at the thought.

"You should have learned by now…" I say in a sing-song voice, before howling out the conclusive line.

"**I'll burn your whole world down!"**

I stand still amongst the wreckage for the first time in however long this rampage had possessed me. I hear footsteps and the echoes of strained words rapidly approaching.

I laugh one more time before the darkness takes me.

_**City of Devils – Yellowcard**_

_**Cinna**_

I remember, back when I was in training, my tutor once took me aside and joking, saying something along the lines of, "look at you, trying to save the world on your own." He was, of course, talking about my youthful and in all honesty, _reckless _idealism. I was very stuck in my ways. I had this set vision of how the world should work and to an extent I still do.

It was more than enough to tell me that everything in the Capitol was wrong. I also learned the hard way being too active in protest would get you nowhere. So I went home and rethought my life. I got myself in a place where I could do more damage right under their noses. Right in their precious Hunger Games, and above the fire of the city lights, I saw Katniss burn with a passion. I was inspired, rekindled, ironically enough. I found someone who thought the same way. I guided her, made her unforgettable, and forged her into the Girl on Fire. But you know that story.

But, this is the thing about the Capitol, the city of devils. I feel like I don't belong. I'm alone in a sea of hedonists. Sometimes it's hard to tell right from the wrong here, and it's time like those I'm glad the girl on fire came along and relit inside me what was dormant for so long:

The spirit of rebellion.


End file.
